New Schools Set to Enhance Healthcare Education in Arkansas

The shape of healthcare education in Arkansas is changing. Lyon College School of Dental Medicine in Little Rock, the state’s first dental school, welcomed its inaugural class last year. Likewise, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville hosted its first white coat ceremony last year, ushering in its first class of students.

On top of that, Arkansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine in Jonesboro just welcomed its inaugural class of students, and Lyon College School of Veterinary Medicine in Cabot is completing the accreditation process.

The dental and veterinary schools and the new medical school are set to revolutionize care across Arkansas, expanding access to communities that need it most.

The dental school welcomed its first class of 80 students last year and this year brought on its second cohort of students from across the state and country with backgrounds ranging from healthcare and research to athletics, military and community service.

“The dental school will have a lasting impact on Arkansas by educating future dentists, creating high-quality jobs, attracting research and investment, enhancing oral health literacy, expanding access to care, and improving oral health outcomes,” said Dr. Burke Soffe, founding dean. “Beyond the economic impact, we hope to inspire future generations to pursue healthcare careers while strengthening communities through service, outreach and healthier smiles. This is an investment that will benefit Arkansas for generations.”

Dr. Burke Soffe

The state previously relied on educating dentists through out-of-state partnerships and regional agreements that ultimately proved unable to meet Arkansas’ growing workforce needs, he said.

“Today, Arkansas ranks last in the nation in dentist-to-population ratio, and many communities continue to face significant barriers to accessing oral healthcare,” he added. “Establishing a dental school requires extraordinary vision, financial commitment and long-term planning. Lyon College made that investment because improving Arkansas’ health demanded it.”

The 36-month, year-round Doctor of Dental Medicine curriculum integrates biomedical sciences, simulation, clinical care, community outreach and interprofessional education from the start of the program, allowing students to begin developing clinical skills early while gaining hands-on experience in a collaborative environment that emphasizes efficiency, professionalism, leadership and lifelong learning, he said.

The state-of-the-art facility offers an advanced simulation clinic, digital dentistry technologies, collaborative learning spaces and a comprehensive patients care clinic that recently opened to the public. Soffe said the school will eventually include surgical suites for individuals with special healthcare needs and additional clinical spaces designed to educate future dentists while providing high-quality care.

“Our program combines a highly efficient three-year curriculum with extensive clinical experience, advanced technology and a strong emphasis on person-centered care,” he said. “Just as importantly, we intentionally built a culture where students are colleagues rather than competitors. We believe collaboration produces better clinicians, stronger leaders and healthier communities. Our exceptional faculty, staff and student-doctors truly are our greatest strength.”

Clinical sciences professor Dr. Geoff Halversen demonstrates a dental technique on student-dentist Bernard Kennetz as student-dentists Forrest Kelly, left, and Mason Huie look on. (Photo by Terry Clausen)

As Arkansas continues to experience significant shortages of dental providers, particularly in rural areas, educating dentists within the state, partnering with healthcare organizations statewide and exposing students to underserved communities will help build a sustainable workforce that improves access for years to come, he said.

In fact, the students are already making an impact, he added. During the school’s first year, Lyon dental students participated in outreach initiatives that reached all 75 counties of Arkansas.

“The Lyon College School of Dental Medicine is about much more than educating dentists. We are helping build a healthier Arkansas,” he said. “Every student we educate, every patient we serve and every partnership we establish strengthens our healthcare system and improves lives. The impact of this institution will ultimately be measured not only by the dentists we graduate but by healthier communities, expanded access to care and brighter futures for generations of Arkansans.”

Arkansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine

The ASU College of Veterinary Medicine just welcomed its inaugural class of 120 students with a white coat ceremony Aug. 8, beginning the education of some of the first veterinarians to earn their degrees in Arkansas.

Until now, students from Arkansas seeking to become veterinarians had to leave the state, often paying significantly higher out-of-state tuition, said Dr. Heidi Banse, inaugural dean. While many of those students returned to practice in Arkansas, she added, others established their careers where they completed school, making it more difficult for Arkansas to retain talent and meet its workforce needs.

Dr. Heidi Banse

“Having a veterinary school in Arkansas changes that. It gives Arkansas students who are aspiring to be veterinarians the opportunity to earn a world-class education closer to home, often at a more affordable cost through in-state tuition,” she said. “Just as importantly, it allows students to build professional relationships and complete clinical training throughout Arkansas, strengthening their connections to the communities they may one day serve.”

Each college of veterinary medicine was once uniformly established with a teaching hospital, which created a huge expense in both building infrastructure and personnel, Banse said. The more modern community-centered model pursued by ASU in which the majority of students’ clinic training occurs in existing clinics reduces the amount of startup funding required, making the vet school feasible.

Students Briley Finster and Caroline Pennywitt examine a patient at the ASU College of Veterinary Medicine in Jonesboro. (Photo provided by ASU)

“The college will help address a critical workforce shortage while expanding educational opportunities for Arkansas students and positioning both Arkansas State and Jonesboro as a destination for professional health science education, research and innovation,” she added. “We believe the timing is right because the need has never been greater, and the university is uniquely prepared to meet it.”

Just how great is the need for veterinarians in Arkansas? Banse said 26 of the state’s 75 counties are considered underserved, 12 counties have only a single practicing veterinarian, and nine have no veterinarian at all.

“The college of veterinary medicine was created to help address that need by educating the next generation of veterinarians here in Arkansas,” she said. “Research consistently shows that students who attend veterinary school in a state are more likely to establish their careers there after graduation.”

Situated in the Arkansas Delta, ASU has already served the needs of agricultural producers for more than a century, Banse said. ASU already has the academic, research and agricultural resources needed to support a high-quality veterinary program, she added, and as a Carnegie R2 doctoral-granting university, research and discovery are central to the ASU mission, creating opportunities for collaboration across multiple disciplines.

The 240-acre university farm, the agriculture teaching and research center, and several existing animal facilities will provide hands-on learning and research opportunities for students, who can also pursue interdisciplinary education and research at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute, she said. The school is also partnering with state agencies and local animal health organizations to support the community in Year 1 of the program.

“Overall, we seek to improve and support our communities’ animal health needs where we can — in Arkansas, the mid-South and beyond,” she said.

Alice L. Walton School of Medicine

Philanthropist Alice Walton founded AWSOM in 2021 to improve health and well-being by creating a new pipeline of physicians for the future. According to information provided by the school, Walton recognized the need for a whole-person approach that includes physical, behavioral, spiritual and socioeconomic well-being based on her own healthcare experiences.

“Alice L. Walton School of Medicine trains physicians who are devoted to transforming the health of medically underserved and rural communities in Arkansas, its surrounding states and beyond,” the statement reads. “AWSOM physicians make a difference by pioneering whole-health principles, deploying contemporary technologies and developing novel partnerships to bridge the gaps to high-quality medical care and to promote health and well-being for all individuals and communities.”

The new state-of-the-art facility on the campus of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art adjacent to the Heartland Whole Health Institute was designed by Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects with outdoor features designed by New York-based Office for Strategy + Design. The site’s landscape includes healing gardens, outdoor classrooms, an urban farming space, and a green roof that connects to a cafe and amphitheater.

The 154,000-square-foot building has four levels and includes learning halls, a public gallery, clinical teaching spaces, administrative offices, a student lounge, covered bicycle parking, and recreation and wellness areas. The building, though, is not nearly as unique as the M.D. program pursued by the students within it.

The Alice L. Walton School of Medicine is housed in a state-of-the-art facility in Bentonville.

“Health primarily happens outside of the clinic,” the statement reads. “Whole-health principles and practices are incorporated throughout the four-year curriculum, teaching students to see beyond the walls of the doctor’s office and into patients’ lives. Students learn the fundamentals of whole-person care, taking the physical, behavioral, spiritual and socioeconomic aspects of a person’s life experience into account.”

Students develop skills such as shared decision-making, collaborative care planning and interprofessional teamwork grounded in respect for patient values, meaning and life context, the statement reads, adding that the curriculum emphasizes patient empowerment, relational presence, and the integration of conventional and complementary approaches within an evidence-informed framework.

“Through structured reflection, coaching and applied clinical learning, students explore the role of personal well-being in sustaining effective clinical practice,” the statement reads. “This curricular thread prepares students to incorporate whole-health principles into clinical care, community partnerships and evolving health care environments, enabling students to advance the principles of whole health throughout their careers.”

AWSOM recently welcomed the class of 2030. (Photos courtesy of AWSOM)

In addition to required clinical clerkships, the students engage in early clinical experiences within their first and second years. Partnerships that provide clinical training include Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas in Rogers, AWSOM’s primary education partner; Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville; Arkansas Children’s Northwest in Springdale; the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock; and many others.

“The art of healing emphasizes curiosity, care, connection and creativity through sustained engagement with the health humanities,” the statement reads. “Through the arts and humanities, students examine professionalism, professional identity formation, ethical reasoning, tolerance of uncertainty, communication, empathy, perspective taking, resilience and cultural dimensions of healing. This curricular thread fosters reflective practice and humanistic clinical judgment while supporting students’ development as physicians.”